The Homeland Security Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) is located at the University of Southern California.

June 10, 2008

Interview with Detlof von Winterfeldt in National Defence Magazine

Public still in the Dark When it Comes to Dirty Bomb Threat

National Defence Magazine, June 2008, By Stew Magnuson

When convicted terrorist Jose Padilla showed up at the Chicago airport in May 2002 allegedly with the plans to carry out a dirty bomb attack, few people had ever heard of such a weapon.

The federal government since then has taken steps to prevent the use of radiological dispersal devices, or RDD - the technical term of a dirty bomb - but there are still widespread misunderstanding of what these weapons do.

The goal of the device is to create fear - as long as this lack of knowledge persists - it will remain an effective weapon of "terror," experts have said. as soon as media hear that there has been a dirty bomb attack, the public "will probably just jump in their cars and try to get out of there. Thats probably the worst thing they can do," Detlof von Winterfeldt, director of the Centre of Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE), told National Defence.
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